Induced anxiety and pain

Abstract

Although it is a commonly accepted notion that anxiety and pain are positively related, it is unclear whether this relation holds regardless of the source of anxiety. The present research examined the relation between source of anxiety and pain responsivity by comparing the pain thresholds and pain tolerances of male and female undergraduates exposed to laboratory induced general anxiety, laboratory induced pain specific anxiety, non-veridical exaggerated descriptions of the sensations produced by a pain stimulator, and a control procedure. The results revealed that only pain specific anxiety enhanced pain responsivity for both males and females. The non-veridical instructions increased pain tolerance only for males but lowered both pain thresholds and pain tolerances for females. The results were interpreted as suggesting that anxiety enhances pain responsivity only if the source of anxiety is related to painful stimuli.